Unreleased Paul McCartney Recording Found

A previously uncatalogued 1964 recording of Amagansett‘s Paul McCartney singing his song “A World Without Love” while playing acoustic guitar was recently discovered by Peter Asher of pop duo Peter and Gordon.

Then with The Beatles, McCartney had written the song and given it to Asher—the brother of his then girlfriend Jane Asher—to record for Peter and Gordon. While Sir Paul has always been credited with writing the song, this is the first time a recording of him playing it has surfaced. “A World Without Love” topped the charts in both the United States and England after Peter and Gordon released it in February of 1964.

Asher found the song a few months ago on a DAT tape of the original reel-to-reel recording in his Los Angeles storage locker, according to Rolling Stone.McCartney was living with the Asher family back in early 1964, sharing the top floor with his mate Peter. “He had two tape machines and I had one—we were both into taping,” Asher explains in Rolling Stone. McCartney played the song for Asher and then gave it to him because his fellow BeatleJohn Lennon didn’t want it. Apparently, Lennon did not like the song or the lyrics and he believed they wrote it before he and McCartney formed The Beatles.

Currently there is no plan to release the recording, but Asher is sharing it as part of his show Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir Of The ’60s And Beyond, which is now touring the US. The tape also includes a recording of McCartney singing The Beatles‘ song “I’ll Follow The Sun.”